Coffee v Tea

This is the first in a new series for the Grad.Life blog, the Versus Series, in which we compare and contrast two items and examine, perhaps loosely, the relationship of those items to graduate students, in a ambitious effort towards creating a reaching, nuanced, idiosyncratic, multi-faceted portrait and definition of graduate life -- or something like that.

    So, let's get to it: for you, is it coffee, or tea? One thing graduate students have in common everywhere is that they include some kind of hot beverage in their routines. This makes them not very different from everyone else in the nation, and perhaps the world, which is somewhat comforting. There is something about these easy to make, easy to buy, easy to drink-while-working beverages and grad school life that, like Beyonce's lips with the National Anthem, just sync up perfectly. But what makes a grad student prefer coffee to tea, or vice versa? What is your choice, and why? Let us know.

     Whichever one you prefer, here are some crazy facts about coffee and tea.

Coffee Fun Facts! 

• Coffee was discovered in the 9th C by a goat farmer, who noticed his goats who had ingested the bean were acting crazy. Next time you see a goat acting crazy, you'll know why...

• 100 cups of coffee contain the lethal dose of caffeine. Voltaire used to drink 50 per day!

• New Yorkers drink 7 times as much coffee as people in other cities! Could this be because of the number of Starbucks on our streets?

• In ancient Middle Eastern cultures, the only legal grounds for a woman to divorce her husband was if she could prove he did not provide enough coffee. If only it were so easy for Katie Holmes.... 

• Coffee addiction as mother of invention: Scientists at the University of Cambridge wanted to be able to tell when their coffee was ready, so they invented the first webcam. Necessity, clearly! 

Source:   Buzzfeed.com

For some good links about the latest coffee news heard 'round the region and 'round the world, check out:

Brooklyn Controversey

National Irish Coffee Day

Coffee Prices Plunge

Tea Fun Facts!

• Tea Sense/Cents: One pound of tea brews 200 cups -- making tea cost about ten cents a cup! 
• Tea is the second most popular beverage in the world -- next to water.
• 80% of tea in the US is served "iced." 
• Around the world, 3 billion cups of tea are served per day.
• The country that drinks the most tea per capita?---- Ireland!
• Through the 18th century, solid blocks of tea were actually used as currency in Siberia!
• The Boston Tea Party, in 1773, was one of the events that sparked the American Revolution. Believing that their right to "No taxation without representation" had been violated, colonists boarded ships and dumped tea into the Boston Harbor, destroying it. It was a protest on taxes by the British government and the East India Company, who had a monopoly on tea.

Source: Crazyfortea.com

For the latest buzz on tea, check out these links:
Tea Prices To Increase?
Teaspoons and Petals, a beautiful blog devoted to tea!
Press Tea